Land Use

An estimated 27,452 square kilometers, or 57 percent of
the
Dominican Republic's total territory of 48,442 square
kilometers,
was devoted to agriculture-related activities in the late
1980s.
According to a soil survey conducted in 1985, 43 percent
of the
country's total area was moderately suited, or
well-suited, for
cultivation. The Cibao and the Vega Real regions, north
and
northeast of Santo Domingo, respectively, contained the
republic's richest agricultural lands and produced most of
the
nation's food and cash crops, with the exception of sugar.
Sugarcane cultivation centered on the coastal plains of
the south
and the east.